“We are excited to partner with Bill White in his campaign to bring leadership to our state and meet Texas’ tough economic challenges. In Rick Perry’s decade of failure, our state’s budget has given away millions in special interest hand-outs when we should have been investing in sensible solutions that benefit everyday Texans. Texas needs leaders who put partisanship aside and let government work for the best interests of its people, and Bill White will do that as Governor.”

Perry describes his record as one that’s fiscally conservative and pro-business and notes Texas is doing better economically than the nation as a whole (and yes, you can definitely debate how big a role he played in that, but the governor claims credit and gets blame for how things are going. It’s the way it is).

We are excited to partner with Bill White in his campaign to bring leadership to our state and meet Texas’ tough economic challenges. In Rick Perry’s decade of failure, our state’s budget has given away millions in special interest hand-outs when we should have been investing in sensible solutions that benefit everyday Texans. Texas needs leaders who put partisanship aside and let government work for the best interests of its people, and Bill White will do that as Governor.

Representative Coleman, Chair of the House Committee on County Affairs, the Legislative Study Group House Caucus, and a member of the Calendars Committee, said:

Mayor White is a fiscally responsible leader that will partner with us to wisely protect taxpayer dollars and invest in services that will lay a firm foundation for our future. The mayor shares our values and our vision for Texas, and I’m happy he’s decided to run for Governor.

As a Representative from Houston, I’ve seen Mayor White, working with the Controller and a bipartisan City Council, prepare balanced budgets with surpluses to help Houston to weather the recession.

In contrast, Governor Perry’s response to state budget crises is to recklessly cut necessary programs, squander taxpayer dollars in privatization schemes, and place the burden on Texas families with higher tuition, health care, and insurance rates. We need a hands-on manager with business experience to cut state costs in times of declining revenues by finding efficiencies without compromising services.

Representative Dunnam, Chair of the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding and Leader of the House Democratic Caucus, said:

Texas has paid the price for Governor Perry’s politics. While accepting over $14 billion in federal stimulus funds to balance our state budget, he took a stand against assistance for unemployment insurance, tripling tax bills for small businesses.

His management of state agencies focuses on what’s best for his cronies and financial backers, not for the state. Mayor White knows how to balance a budget, but more importantly, he knows how to manage an organization. He’s managed the City of Houston through both fiscal and tropical storms, and he has been re-elected with percentages more than double Governor Perry’s 39%.

Our state government is lacking executive leadership. For those in the Legislature that have worked hard to find common ground and care about the future of our state, we need a governor who is able to be a leader, not just play one on TV.

Representative Gallego, Chair of the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence and immediate past chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said:

Having spent years working on the state budget, I’ve seen the real effects that bad management can have on state government.

Pricing kids out of college is not a business plan for the future of Texas, but Governor Perry’s rising college tuition rates have been an added tax to middle income families. The Governor and the State Board of Education are more interested in catering to the far right wing than they are in addressing the drop out problem. Mayor White in Houston has shown what personal leadership is, not just through government action but in organizing his community and helping bring dropouts back to school.

Governor Perry has charted a course that doesn’t invest in the future of Texas. Mayor White has the proven track record to work with members of both parties to seek and find common ground. Mayor White is the leader that Texas needs today.